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Wind turbine leaseholder: “They’re louder than I expected”

By Monte Sonnenberg, Simcoe Reformer
The company that brought a four-turbine wind farm to Port Ryerse last year got an earful about noise levels at a community meeting this week. Boralex officials were on the hot seat Wednesday as 40 people from the Port Ryerse area had at them in a committee room at the Simcoe Recreation Centre. The occasion was a bi-annual meeting Boralex has agreed to have with its neighbours. Also attending were members of the Port Ryerse Community Liaison Committee.

“It’s very loud and it’s very upsetting,” Port Ryerse resident Shana Greatrex told the gathering. “Our whole village has been affected. This is something we warned about a long time ago and no one did anything about it.”

Village residents were surprised when one of the property owners who agreed to host a turbine said his neighbours aren’t imagining things. “I’m surprised I can hear them as loud as I do, and I wear an earpiece,” said Wally Faulkner. “They’re louder than I expected.”

Comments at this week’s meeting are consistent with complaints across the province that wind turbines are noisy, disruptive and interfere with the peaceful enjoyment of property. In telling her story, Gail Lyons started off calm enough. However, the bitterness she feels came through loud and clear in her words. Lyons told the gathering she lives across the road from “one of these pieces of crap that I hate” and that she is often awakened in the middle of the night because her bed is shaking. Read article

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Shocking? Where was this landowner all this time? As long as people put their hand out and say “show me the money” this problem will never go away. Greed runs from the top down, thanks to this government !

When one has exhausted every possibility, using proper protocol in efforts to try to protect their loved ones and themselves… to no avail, it is no surprise to see acts of vandalism to get these things to stop running.
The relief that people feel on the days when the wind isn’t blowing is so profound. Who wouldn’t want that feeling every day of the year for the rest of their lives?

After almost two full years since having turbines turned on, residents here in Huron County are still experiencing the loss of enjoyment of their homes/properties. The MOECC has failed to intercede between the residents and the wind company. All who are responsible for this situation have ignored the many pleas for help made by residents.

The ramifications for the Canadian government leaders, at all levels, for taking a ‘business as usual’ attitude to expensive. ineffective and dangerous mitigation in light of the information that is now out in the open for all to see are going to be very serious.

The comments to this article from people who are very, very ill informed are an indication of the enormous ‘knowledge gap’ that must be addressed somehow. But since the vast majority of people are unable to understand the science behind all of this, they lack the ability to fully comprehend what has happened.
Will our government leaders see this article and realize what the ramifications of it are for them?

I noticed that Aercoustics will be doing the test on the Siemens turbines in the Boralex project and it will take OVER A YEAR.

Why is the MOECC allowing this Aercoustics, who is NOT independent continue under the pretense that they are “independent”?

Aercoustics is the same company that defied the MOECC and did NOT comply with the requirement to test at “complaintant” properties in the K2 Wind project in Huron County.

1. Aercoustics has testified in the United States as to the adequacy of the Ontario set backs citing Health Canada. The report was cherry picked. In addition, Aercoustics ignored the caveats at the beginning of the Health Canada Study which specifically stated the report should not be used for purposes Aercoustics was using the study for. They have a financial interest in maintaining the status quo. http://watchdog.org/283617/sound-experts-spar-over-turbine-noise/

2. In addition, Aercoustics is “COLLABORATING” with Siemens. Siemens is the manufacturer of every one of the 140 turbines in the K2 Wind Project and the turbines in the Boralex Project.

According to the Intrinsik, Inc. website, Dr. Ollson’s primary research interest is in the field of oral bioavailabilty of contaminants in the environment.

In other words, contaminants in the environment that might get into your mouth? Does this qualify him to speak about IWT “noise” issues? And of course, you can also get toxic environmental contaminants in your ears.

The Siemens situation should be looked at by independent engineers and/or computer program experts.

Is there a possibility that we have federal statutes that have been broken by our government in having purchased these turbines using tax payer’s money and in allowing the continuing operation of these turbines despite the fact that residents are reporting harm?

“I’m surprised I can hear them as loud as I do, and I wear an earpiece,” said Wally Faulkner. “They’re louder than I expected.” Is this the same family that fought tooth and nail in 2013 in court to put them up? If this person had any integrity whatsoever, he would donate the money he’s receiving from Boralex to the people in the village.
The people are correct in fearing warm weather. Many will not be able to sleep with the windows open due to the noise and will be forced to use air conditioning in the summer.https://ontario-wind-resistance.org/2013/04/22/landowners-to-fight-lawsuit/

“OPG coal generating stations, if converted to biomass or natural gas, will produce less electricity than in the past, but will serve a backup role and complement renewable forms of electricity generation like wind and solar.”

There are sound investment reasons you could push, apart from noise and the other arguments.

Just posted this. £18 billion invested in nuclear power [Hinkley] will ‘generate’ 5.23X more income than £18 billion invested in offshore wind [£300.57 billion against £57.42 billion].
Decommissioning and waste storage and handling will have to be deducted from the Hinkley income, but O & M for nuclear is probably less than O & M for offshore wind.
The profits [and dividends] from nuclear power are still likely to be 5X greater than those from offshore wind:http://idiocyofrenewables.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/nuclear-power-hinkley-point-c-nuclear.html

In fact, some of us warned of this to our Members of Parliament, the Prime Minister, members of the Privy Council, the Governor General, and everybody else who would listen (and some who wouldn’t), back when Stephen Harper was in charge, and before Health Canada began the “Wind Turbine Noise and Health Study” in 2012.

The Income Tax Act is a federal law that may be broken. For example, in Canada, a person may NOT derive income from causing harm to people.

So what would be the best way to proceed to bring this before the law enforcers? Surely there will be ramifications for the government for having neglected their duty to protect people and for the manufacturer of turbines.

Sometimes laws or policies conflict with eachother. And that’s NOT the end of the story.

For example, the federal government’s “Wind Power Production Incentive” (“WPPI”) gave money to wind project developers in the early 2000’s and made an important contribution to the cause of the international wind energy racket.

Fortunately, NOT all of the WPPI records were destroyed or went missing.

As part of the WPPI, the developer had to assure that it would meet certain requirements of this federal government programme.

“it is expected that ALL residences, regardless of whether a property intends to host a wind turbine, will NOT be at risk of significant environmental impacts with respect to operational noise.” (emphasis added)

Okay, so what does this mean for people who are living within power stations against their will and without having given their consent, who are being exposed to audible tonal noise that the MOECC cannot seem to measure or get under control with the wind companies? And what about the people who have reported symptoms of infrasound radiation and low frequency noise modulations?

Why on earth would it take years to study these people and their experiences before protective measures are taken by this government?
Why would victims have to pay for legal procedures to seek protection?

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This article is the work of the source indicated. The copyright of this article is owned by the author or publisher indicated. Its availability here constitutes a "fair use" as provided for in section 29 of the Canadian Copyright Law as well as in similar "fair dealing" exceptions of the copyright laws of other nations, as part of Ontario Wind Resistance's noncommercial effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a provincial and global audience seeking such information.